The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-19
A Few Spring Snakes.
New York World

Mr.. Josh Bailey, of BroOksville, is evil
IDENTIFY the boss snake catcher of Florida.
He was lounging in a hammock one hot
afternoon last week when an ominous
noise warned him that rattlesnake was
near by and ready for business. Mr..
Bailey tumbled out of the hammock Just
in time to avoid the reptiles spring, but
the snake by the neck while it was still
in mid-air. Then he took the vicious
reptile back to the woOdshed, and laying
its head on a block chopped it off with a
Ratchet. The snake was ~ feet long
and nearly 10 inches in circumference.
1t struggled desperately while in Mr..
Bailey's grasp, and winding its coils
around his arm almost crushed it.
Sheriff Roberts, of Hart County, Ga. .
was awakened from a sound sleep the
other night by tine clammy touch of a
huge snake, which crawled directly over
his face. The reptiles belly felt like a
big icicle, according to the sheriff's ac-
count of the incident, and seemed 10
take at least half an hour in passing.
Finally, to his great relief, the reptile
drew its Shiny length away, and the
sheriff struck light and tried to find it.
But the snake had disappeared, and af-
ter few minutes search Mr.. Roberts
went back to bed. In the morning the
servant, while making up the bed, found
a chicken snake, six feet long, coiled up
between the feather bed and the mat
tress.
Mr.. Fetch Norris. of MOnteZuma. Ga.
burned brush heap down in his swamp
near the river, not long ago, and threw
| into the pile a gOod-siZed moccasin
which his boys had captured that after
| noOn- A week afterwards he visited the
spot with his dog and saw, wrigging
about in the dead ashes, the head and a
| few inches of the neck of the snake,
| while its body had burned to a crisp and
broken off. The dogs started i'm to have
| fun with the remains OF the reptile, but
was bitten on the paw and gave it up.
| A Pennsylvania farmer removed a
| stump from a field recently and took
from a root which he thought was a LOT
of knotted rope. After the supposed
rope had lain in the sun awhile the
| farmer discovered that it was a mass OF
| copperhead snakes twisted and inter
laced together with the heads outward.
| They Missed and sguirmed in a horrible
/ manner. Just then the farmers hired
man came up, and with couple of good
clubs they succeeded i'm despatchinl
nearly two hundred serpents.
The henroost of Mr. j. b. jackson, OF
La Grange, Ga, has been pretty wei
| Cleaned out by snakes TINS spring, ant
recently he caught one of the thieves
where in the act of grasping a fat ber
around the neck and killed it. Two day,
afterwards the hen laid an unusual bis
egg. on which was outlined in red per
feet representation of snake seizing
chicken.
Capt. Jack Bridges, of Columbus, o.
brought home with him from a huntin,
trip in Mexico last week RATHER which
beats anything of the kind ever seen il
Ohio. 1t is twelve feet long, has twenty
six rattles and a button, and is calcular
ed to be able to spring seventeen feet
The captain says he bagged it nea
Chihuahua while hunting for other game
A Bemont Qll.) man while digging
well last week unearthed snake which
was found to be eleven feet long and ha,
six legs, two small horns on its head,
forked tail and only one eye, but tina
terrible enough to make up for several
This pretty reptile proved to be yer,
vicious, but it was caught at last, and j
now on exhibition in box at the corne
| grocery.